Report on virus and state schools may not be whole story
Parents in Florida have been waiting with bated breath for the state to release a report about new coronavirus cases in schools so they can make informed family health decisions about whether to send their child back to campus for inperson instruction.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly released the report Tuesday, saying it was “a good story to tell.”
But the numbers in the report don’t add up with the cases some schools have already released.
The Florida Department of Health did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday, including questions about what went into the report. It seems to show the number of students and teachers who’ve tested positive for the virus at each school between Sept. 6 and Sept. 26.
Earlier on Tuesday, DeSantis said he believes it’s more accurate to look at the number of hospitalizations and emergency room visits rather than the number of cases, though that information is not included in the schools report.
The state report indicates that the coronavirus is spreading mostly in high schools. DeSantis also acknowledged that a significant chunk of the cases are reported in counties with college towns, such as University of Florida in Alachua County and Florida State University in Leon County.
Even at the university level, the numbers didn’t match up with the state’s report.
The University of Florida’s coronavirus dashboard shows that the university reported 100 cases of the virus on Sept. 6, which is the date the state began reporting its cumulative data.
The next day, UF had 70 more cases. According to the university’s dashboard, 797 students and 57 faculty and staff have tested positive for the virus to date since testing began in May.
The state’s report says the university has had only one case since Sept. 6 after a student tested positive.
In-person instruction hasn’t started yet in Broward County, but the school district says 28 staff members have had the virus in the last month. The state’s report does not provide the totals.
According to Broward County school’s dashboard, two employees have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 30 days at Annabel C. Perry PK-8 in Miramar. The state’s report says only
one employee has tested positive there since Sept. 6.
Palm Beach County has had 22 cases, seven students and 15 employees, since Sept. 16. In-person instruction began on Sept. 21.
Hillsborough County has reported 427 cases as of July 30.
Rebekah Jones, a former employee at the state’s health department, now operates TheCovidMonitor.com, which tracks cases in schools nationally and in Florida.
On Tuesday when health officials released the schools report, she called it “a holy hot mess of hell.”
“The numbers are WAY off — hundreds of cases missing from districts that self-report,” she wrote on Twitter.
In Florida, about half of the 70 school districts are keeping their own dashboards.
The districts have their own way of reporting cases, their own time periods and
different definitions of active vs. cumulative cases. Some dashboards update nightly, others once or twice a week.
In a news conference on Tuesday morning, DeSantis said the report showed good news — that there’s a lack of transmission between students and teachers and between students and their peers. And whatever transmission there is doesn’t have a huge impact on community spread, he said.
“As you get older, you’re a more efficient transmitter compared to someone in fifth grade,” he said. “Even if there were to be an outbreak at a middle school…10 days later, did any get sick? Need medical attention? I think the answer almost always is no.”